The Curious Case of the Money Making Trailer

Movie companies have several means of making money. They put up posters in magazines and newspapers, and on the sides of movie theaters. They send actors and production staff out to do interviews about the film and generate word of mouth. Yet the classic is the movie trailer. On always before the start of a main feature, or on television a few weeks before the film opens, they allow audiences to get a taste of what’s to come. They’re made specific enough to allow the basis of the plot to be told, yet general enough to keep curiosity peaked. They’ll have voiceovers saying “THIS SUMMER…” or “IF THERE IS ONE MOVIE TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE….” Yet some take themselves seriously. Some try to generate a sense of serious emotion, not just “hey, that looks interesting.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is such a film trailer. Choosing to compile emotionally or visually interesting pieces of the main character’s life, without using any sound besides the music and his voice to tell the story, draw the audience member in, and create interest to see the film.
Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers collaborated to make this movie for two reasons: one, to make money. The second, to win awards so they can have credibility to make more movies and, therefore, make more money. Their message, therefore, is to go see this movie. Yet, in order to avoid this greedy image, they disguise their message. Instead of, “go to the theater and spend money to see this film in germ-infested seats,” it’s “go to the theater and have a cathartic experience that will leave you weeping in your germ-infested seats.” This message works because many people did do this, and still do over other films.
These film companies hire trailer editors to compile pieces of the film and add music and narrations in order to pique the interest in the public once released. The editors chose, relying on the heavy themes of Benjamin Button, to create an emotional movie trailer. It starts off with the massive clock ticking one minute backward, and maintains this sense of reversed time throughout the trailer. Smash cut to the soldier running backwards from the blast that kills him, hugging his parents as he leaves the train that takes him to his doom. And then Benjamin appears, along with the rest of the cast of characters that, throughout the trailer, age into death, but not Button, who becomes younger as the trailer progresses. He continues on this path until the very end, when he is an infant with an old woman walking him. This montage of images reveal the ethos moment and core of the film: life is fantastic, and it’s the events that make it so, even at the end. Yet, as the audience finds, it causes sadness, laughter, and overall nostalgia that relates to all people, and not just Benjamin.
There are only two pieces of dialogue spoken in the film. “My name is Benjamin Button,” a voice speaks with a trace of an accent, “and I was born under unusual circumstances. While everybody else was aging, I was getting younger. All alone.” The second piece is at the end, when a woman says to Benjamin: “you’re so young.” Benjamin, his voice full of ancient yet innocent wisdom, replies: “only on the outside.” The rest is magical and sad music. This was done as a way of amplifying the emotions of the imagery, while simultaneously telling the audience that this film is a story of life, its mystical and happy moments, and its sad and lesson-giving moments.
The logos of the trailer is that going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will make one appreciate life, while simultaneously seeing a great film. It has great actors, an interesting story, and, most of all, will make the audience tell others to see the film because of the impact it had on them. Well, that last one is at least the production company’s goal. If the audience has a great experience, the companies get more money. Maybe the audience will see it again, or get others to see it. Even better, people will go in droves to buy it on DVD. A great trailer, then, makes the chances of their logos succeeding increase.
What are movie trailers but commercials for many people to see in one room at once? Some, like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, just happen to make people emotional when they see it, which means a better chance for monetary success for the movie company. After all, that is the main goal of a movie trailer. Generate interest for the movie, and make more money. Yet who says one can’t enjoy the trailer for what is presented, not the motives? The Benjamin Button trailer causes a great stir and surge of emotions like sadness and joy, and that’s what makes it a success. For if the trailer is this good, then imagine what the movie will be like.

The Parable of Dani

"Dani California" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Gettin' born in the state of Mississippi
Poppa was a copper and her momma was a hippie
In Alabama she was swinging hammer
Price you gotta pay when you break the panorama
She never knew that there was anything more than poor
What in the world does your company take me for?

Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbin' on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner, rebel and a stunner
On her merry way sayin' baby what you gonna
Lookin' down the barrel of a hot metal .45
Just another way to survive

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

She's a lover, baby and a fighter
Shoulda seen it coming when it got a little brighter
With a name like Dani California
Day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya
A little loaded she was stealin' another breath
I love my baby to death

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

Who knew the other side of you
Who knew what others died to prove
Too true to say goodbye to you
Too true, too say say say

Push the fader, gifted animator
One for the now and eleven for the later
Never made it, Up to Minnessota
North Dakota man was a gunnin' for the quota
Down in the badlands she was saving the best for last
it only hurts when I laugh
Gone too fast

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah

Parables, throughout history, remain popular for their ability to reach across time periods and remain relevant. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song, “Dani California,” uses imagery, foreshadowing, and irony to tell the modern parable of a misfortunate girl’s eventually fatal path through life. Dani herself appears in several songs from the band, such as “Californication” and “By the Way,” but only referred to in subtle ways. Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer and lyricist for RHCP, originally created her to be an embodiment of all the girls he has had relationships with. In this case, she is a fast-living woman, travelling on a path of destruction. The song is a warning to those who wish to live a similar life, and the ultimately cruel and untimely end that would be met.
The song uses striking, yet brief images to show its story rather than tell it. The listener first gets a strong taste of this tool in the second stanza:

“Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbin' on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner, rebel and a stunner
On her merry way sayin' baby what you gonna
Lookin' down the barrel of a hot metal .45
Just another way to survive”

Dani, after living a destitute life in Mississippi, chose to live a life of crime across the United States by robbing banks. Though this could have easily been sung in a simpler way, RHCP chose to use strong, memorable images to let the listener conjure the character of Dani and her exploits. She is girl that doesn’t care about any negative side-effects to her life, just considering it “another way to survive.” This lifestyle, though dangerous, seems alluring to the singer, who considers her to be “a runner, rebel and a stunner.” However, as the song creeps on, he grows to realize that she is destined for a premature end.
The chorus of “Dani California” is sung thus:

“California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess, I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah”

The singer uses foreshadowing to constantly remind the listener that, due to Dani’s lifestyle, she will die. “California, rest in peace,” and “Simultaneous release” refer to Dani’s death, while “California, show your teeth” is an allusion to what brought her to her end: her fast-paced and dangerous life. In the fourth line of the chorus, the singer speaks directly to the listener. In it, he briefly states what made him choose to tell the listener the story: Dani was his priestess, providing an example of the life one should not live. He, in turn, became our priest, telling her story, spreading the Word of Dani California in an easily enjoyable tune whose meaning suddenly sneaks up on us.
Common in Red Hot Chili Peppers’ more meaningful songs, the music of “Dani California” is enjoyable and catchy, ironically contrasting with the tone of the lyrics being sung. Even in describing Dani’s death, in which she is shot trying to make it to Minnesota, the song remains upbeat. This is highly important in a parable: the tale must be as entertaining and thought-provoking as the moral itself. “Dani California” fulfills this purpose, having become a major hit across the world. Its meaning has reached to its listeners willing to hear its words, not just the music. The song is easily accessible to all. Ironically, the music’s tone deceives the listener into believing they are listening to a light, upbeat song, when it is in actuality dark and a warning to those that live like Dani.
“Dani California” is a modern parable about the dangerous end one who enjoys a fast-paced lifestyle may face, sooner rather than later. It uses imagery, foreshadowing, and irony to bring this point across. It is a song that one may have to listen to several times to truly understand it; it has much imagery and befuddling lyrics at times, yet the deeper meaning is there. One must only search to find it. For that is what a good parable does: it makes its audience search for its meaning, and hold onto it dearly, never for it to be lost again.

Amor Vincit Omnia

Like Pearl Harbor it came,
A surprising burst of emotion, tangerine joy,
Her hair, haute chocolate,
Laugh like luminous moons,
Bright, lively, racing rubies in me.

What voodoo broke me of the spell?
What got me out of that paradiso inferno, that Hell?
It seems so obvious now, like Fujiyama,
Or silver ice on the ground.
Essential heart beat.

Life and joy are contradictions without her.
Not a one man show anymore.
Every cliché proven right,
I get those songs now,
All that live jazz and… yeah.

Luzon

There aren’t many times like those left. The antiquated contraptions in the mulch and grass were adorned with rust and graffiti, yet we enjoyed them anyway. Fathers and sons away on the swings. Us, sitting in the wheel, looking anachronistic. The girls laughed as we were spun, the world outside looking like a polychromatic blur. Like drunken fools we stood and stumbled, laughing at our childishness. “Twelve-year old, looking for a pimp. 36D,” written on the wheel. We ran to the swings as the parents observed us, teens in a child’s hovel. Competitions for who can jump the farthest. Twisting in the swing as much as possible and taking off like a cyclone. How many more of those moments? we asked ourselves. My friend’s obsidian-colored camera spying us in its lens as we tried to bottle our moment. Then it was gone, another whirr on the wheel, spinning as fast as our youth seemed to go. Laughing so hard, and feeling so dizzy we exude nausea. “I hope you had the time of your life,” croons the tiny voice on the speaker his iPod. We walk on the sidewalk, every moment a symbol for our impromptu film. The wind buffets some leaves to the ground. The street connecting Luzon with the rest of the neighborhood. Four roads, four of us. Our own crossroads, each of us standing over our imponderable futures. Moving on. But to McDonald’s first for a drink, save the rest for later. The swings move in the wind, meshed with our memories and joys. The wheel at Luzon, still spinning, acting as the hourglass for the rest of our youth before the deep plunge unto the uncertain future.


Antiquated: Adj. old
Adorned: V. to lend beauty to
Anachronistic: Adj. not in correct time period
Polychromatic: Adj. having or exhibiting a variety of colors
Hovel: N. small dwelling
Obsidian: N. a dark, volcanic glass
Exude: V. to send out
Buffet: V. to force one’s way
Imponderable: Adj. not ponderable
Meshed: V. to become entangled

Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you'll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, (make it Jude) ooh

Na na na nananana, nananana, hey Jude... (Repeat X amount of times)


“Hey Jude” by the Beatles

They were just a tiny band from Liverpool. A man named John met a guitarist named Paul at school, and they formed a band called The Quarrymen. Soon after they met a fellow named George, and a few years and a name change later, a drummer named Richard Starkey, who eventually became known as Ringo Starr. They signed a record deal and recorded an album in Abbey Road Studios, and, less than a year later, became a huge sensation in not only their native UK, but in the United States as well. In fact, they became so popular, a term was coined in their honor in an attempt to describe the frenzy surrounding them: Beatlemania. Album after album was released, containing songs destined to be classics. Their material started to be deeper and deeper in meaning, until every song was analyzed as a philosophical masterpiece, or a drug-induced tune. Yet their fame was starting to become too much for them, and John, after meeting a lady named Yoko, left the band, as well as his previous wife. Paul, in an attempt to console John’s son, Julian, wrote a ballad called “Hey Jude.” This song was one of the final masterpieces of that Liverpool band, and has quite often been named a classic by several professionals and listeners alike. It was forty years ago that The Beatles released it, and, to commemorate it, Rolling Stone would like to bring you a story on the greatest rock band of all time, and to find what they had been saying for years in their best masterpiece: “Hey Jude.”

The Beatles began with softer, lighthearted songs, like “Twist and Shout,” “Love Me Do,” and “P.S. I Love You.” Their brand of music was popular at the time, and related most to the rock and roll of the 1950s, with influences from artists like Buddy Holly. The teen girls of the UK and US fell in love with the band, along with seemingly the rest of the world. As time passed, they matured, with experimental albums like “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and their White Album, simply titled “The Beatles.” They sounded completely different from what had come before, and even what they had been when they first started out. When psychedelic rock reached its zenith in the hippie-era of the mid-1960s, The Beatles were there. Their music during this time was innovative, with mind-bending songs like “I am the Walrus,” and the ever-popular “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Their instruments shifted all over the spectrum, which infected their sound with an Indian vibe, or a classical piece turned rock and roll, like “Across the Universe,” or “Eleanor Rigby,” respectively. “Universe” was released during Vietnam, and its peaceful point reflects it. The Beatles were staunch believers in peace, which John Lennon actively took part in trying to spread. His ally in this was Yoko Ono, his love and future wife. Unfortunately, when Lennon met Ono, he was married to Cynthia Lennon, and had a son, Julian. John eventually divorced Cynthia and married Yoko. Julian was feeling depressed about the end of his parents’ marriage, and so Paul was driving to his house to comfort him and his mother. “I thought, as a friend of the family, I would motor out to Weybridge and tell them that everything was all right: to try and cheer them up, basically, and see how they were,” said Paul. “I had about an hour's drive. I would always turn the radio off and try and make up songs, just in case... I started singing: 'Hey Jules - don't make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better...' It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: 'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.'” Thus, McCartney came up with one of The Beatles’ greatest hits.

The song is sung relatively slowly and delicately. McCartney’s voice sounds consoling, full of wisdom and hope. The first two verses seem to say that to overcome the pain, one has to acknowledge it. Yet in the next verse, he warns that, after the pain has been acknowledged it must be pushed away. This can be done by “taking a sad song and making it better.” By finding the positive in life, the outlook seems brighter, and the darkness in life is dimmed, for the pain is temporary. And if the pain ever tried to overcome someone in a moment of weakness, one must focus on that positive thing, that dark thing turned good, and the pain would be abated. In the fifth verse, McCartney sings that it is just “you” that can change the pain, and one should not wait for someone else to try to get it started.

The Beatles broke up in 1970 after personal disputes and weariness of working together. John Lennon was killed in 1980 by Mark David Chapman, and George Harrison died from cancer in 2001. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have since embarked on solo careers, both meeting success. Yet the “Fab Four” will always be remembered as The Beatles. Their fun, thought-provoking music is some of the most popular in the world. “Hey Jude,” along with several of their other hits, are all easily recognized and well-known. In the end, the message of “Hey Jude” is to find the positive in the negative. Jules was meant to find it in his parents’ divorce, yet the song works because it is a universal message that every human being can relate to. It worked for its time because Vietnam was in its death throes, and people were enveloped in a quagmire of depression. People needed that light at the end of the tunnel, letting them know that even though things were bad right now, it would eventually work out in the end. That in everything dark, there is a light. That meaning carries through today, where the world continues to suffer. Yet we can try to make something good out of it. To quote “The End,” the final song from The Beatles, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” One must work for that love, which is what The Beatles always wanted: for everyone to love. That is why “Hey Jude” is such a classic, and why it is one of The Beatles’ greatest songs ever.

Hypnopaedia

The hypnopaedia statement in the video, “Suicide is Sleep,” reflects the life of people in society today. People are in a constant state of motion, and it is believed that resting for even a little while will leave you behind in this fast-paced world. With a coffee bar at every corner, and the pressure of working 24/7, it is no wonder stress is such a terrible factor. The video at the beginning features two peacefully resting people, stress-free and innocent, against the calming backdrop of “Moonlight Sonata.” As “Suicide” appears on the screen, the music jumps to the hectic, hypnotizing sounds of The Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” along with images of the stressed and laboring, convincing the young to work or nothing will ever be done.

The Savage

I thought it would be wonderful.
The world, the new world, would be good and noble.
But this… this new world is not that.
The world is just as savage as my own.
“So quick bright things come to confusion.”
My dreams of enlightenment and wisdom are gone.
Life is not as it was, nor was it meant to be.
The drug that dares to numb those who need the pain.
The pain, the acknowledgement of awareness.
Oh forgive me! Please forgive me!
Oh forgive me for tasting the fruit of the strumpet that they call their land.
For in that place it belongs to everyone.
“Out damned spot!”
It will not leave me! Oh mother, how could you fall prey to that spot?
That spot that I call evil and abandonment!
Even as a child you left me to him that infected you with the tastes of this world.
Why did such evil come to us? Why?
They know not. You know not, that sit dumbly and idly as your minds are eaten.
Such apathy.
Why has this time come?
How could it have come?
“Beware the ides of March.”
Alas, they are here every day.
Like Caesar I am stabbed by her.
Strumpet, how dare she try to seduce me!
It is not her fault.
No, it is.
No.
They have no guide, like I did.
A mother who loved me, even when she was lost in her mind.
Yet now there is the father that rejects me.
My mother is now gone, preferring the cold comfort of the fatal pill.
Who is left?
Just you, John, just you.
The Savage must subsist on his own.
I, the forsaken, in this barren land.
But still they hound me.
Leave me!
“O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are here!
How beauteous mankind is!”
If only he could see this day, he’d spit upon the graves of their leaders.
Why won’t they leave?
Why did I ever leave my home?
O brave new world!
Perhaps the next will be a better one?